..of East Toledo remembers feeling nervous and a little scared about 5:45 p.m. Sunday as she approached on her bike a fenced yard with two loud and agitated barking dogs.
She convinced herself to be brave and ride past, thinking she would be safe on the sidewalk with the "pit bulls" behind the chain-link fence surrounding 669 Dover Pl. But one of the "pit bulls" managed to jump the fence - not the first time it had done so - and the next thing Sarabeth remembers is getting knocked off her bike and attacked.

I read this, and knew that she had the "right" to do such a thing, but I would have crossed the street and ridden on the other side. My parents stressed that to me long ago when I was a kid and saw "strange" dogs. Just a few yards of distance might have given her the chance to speed up her bike and get away. I remember being chased a couple of times by dogs while riding my bike in my 20's. Those were close calls, but I got away. And it is exciting until you get between their jaws.

Food for thought might be not to ride a bike a few feet from a dog since you might be seen as a soft-fleshed deer heading for the woods. Better to act like prey that wants to live, and giving danger a wide berth while keeping cover between you and danger.

People shouldn't have to fear walking down the street in their own neighborhoods because of dogs violently barking at them. I would carry mace, and let the owners know if the dog bites me or my family, they will be promptly sued.

I have a friend who is a retired letter carrier. He used to regale us about the time "ol' Satan" snuck up on him.

He had been delivering to this house for a while. He always made sure he knew where "Satan" was at. He was usually chained to his dog house. This day he was approaching the mail box, fingering his mail as he was supposed to do. Then he noticed "no Satan". He heard a growl to his left, saw the dog caming at him, and he put his leather satchel between him and the dog while reaching for the dog repellent her carried (which is supposed to be really good stuff). The dog hit him, and they rolled in the middle of Cherry St. with horns blowing while he sprayed the dog to no effect ("He was eatin' it like candy"). The came running out, apologizing, and corralled the dog. My friend told him that was the last time he was delivering the mail to that address. He could come pick it up at the station. And "ol' Satan" was no pitbull, just your average, mean, territorial mutt.

From gemini: People shouldn't have to fear walking down the street in their own neighborhoods because of dogs violently barking at them.

Buy a box of medium size crunchy dog biscuits and carry a few with you when you walk. When the dog comes out to bark at you, throw him a biscuit. You'll have to do this on 3 to 4 occasions, but after a few times the dog will come out and wag his tail at you. After that happens you won't have to feed the dog each time you pass; maybe once in five times. The barking will stop.

If you encounter more than one dog in the yard, make sure you throw multiple dog biscuits. For really hard to impress dogs, put a little bacon fat or tuna fish oil on the biscuit.

Agreed with MrsPhoenix. If your dog is running loose around the neighborhood, you've got bigger problems than friendly biscuit-tossing strangers to worry about.

I understand that sometimes dogs get out on accident, despite an owner's best intentions. Collars can slip off; aggressive diggers and high jumpers can Houdini their way under or over a fence; tie-outs can break; children can unthinkingly open the front door and simultaneously let Fido make a run for it. But in general, if a dog is purposely let out to run loose, an owner's got no business getting uppity about how strangers react to his dog or whining about whatever happens to it. And that goes double if the dog isn't wearing ID and a license tag.

Madjack, you have to be attacked usually before you can get your supervisor to allow you to discontinue delivery. And a lot of people in that part of town do not have garages. And like in most service jobs, you have to go along to get along. But there were a lot of witnesses to ol' Satan's attack that day. My friend felt sure he could discontinue delivery. It lasted two weeks.

I remember having to mace a dog that was chasing two children. A very mean rotweiler. One kid made it to his own porch, the other just came to ours, i scooped him up over our fence just as the was about to bite him, my husband maced the dog, didn't even faze it. It stood on our steps barking like crazy, so then my husband threw cold water on it. (that finally worked)

Actually this dog was let out on purpose by un-tended little wanna be gang bangers who owned it when the other children walked by, they weren't outside playing.

This dog was one of three mean dogs these people had, 2 were rots, one was a mutt. The lady who owned it had to put a privacy fence between our yards because it managed to snag my husbands arm and bite him.(not severly though) These people trained their dogs to be mean.

On the other hand the GIANT rot that lived on the other side of us was a gentle sweet dog. Its funny because those owners said be careful that it was mean, but when i fed it dog treats it would take them gently out of my hand. 8-)

My only point was the mace thing, you cant blame the dog for being mean, but the people that make them that way.

Madjack
<No surprise there. Kids squeal and run around which <triggers the dog's prey response, hence the chase <scenario. Any dog will chase kids that behave this <way.

<The real solution is to keep the kids inside where <they belong, unless the parents are outside with <them so as to supervise their behavior.

<Things like this aren't the dog's fault - the dog <is just behaving like a dog should - the parents <need to control the noisy little kids.

Wrong, its the owners responsibility to maintain their animals, if the kids are on the street / sidewalk / in their own yard, friends yard then they have every right to expect to not be attacked or threatened by someone dog. People have a right to be in public places without being afraid of being attacked, any animal that cant be controlled in a reasonable manner should be removed by animal control, any incident should be reported and the owners warned and then fined if it happens again, should also check to see if dog have licenses.

IMO, people need to properly control, care for and train their dogs AND people need to properly "control," care for and "train" their children. (And it is my honest opinion that in this town we seem to have a bigger problem with the latter.)